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Our state-of-the-art facility allows surgeons to perform procedures in the areas of: General Surgery • Gynecology • Orthopedic • Pain Management • Podiatry • Ear-Nose-Throat • Urology Grass Valley Surgery Center SINCE 2005 “Relaxing and spotless... the nurse was skillful. ough I only have known her for 15 minutes I consider her a friend…..I would definitely recommend your facility without reservation.” – Kenny Marquardt, Nevada City Your neighbor’s opinion about the care they received at Grass Valley Surgery Center: BY ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO — Demand for more expensive properties lifted California home prices to a nearly two-year high in May as sales across all pricing categories showed healthy gains, a research firm said Thursday. The median price for new and existing houses and condos reached $270,000 last month, up 8.4 percent from $249,000 in the same period last year and matching the highest level since June 2010, DataQuick said. The median price is still well below a peak of $484,000 in early 2007 but up from $221,000 in April 2009. The median price has risen three straight months from year-ago levels. The number of homes sold in May rose 17.6 percent from last year to 41,790, the highest tally for that month since 2006, the San Diego-based research firm said. Foreclosed homes, which tend to sell at a discount, made up a smaller part of overall sales, lifting the median price. DataQuick said properties that had been foreclosed upon in the previous year accounted for 28.3 percent of existing-home sales, down from 35.3 percent a year earlier and 58.5 percent in February 2009. The San Francisco Bay area’s median sales price was $400,000, up 7.5 percent from $372,000 a year earlier, DataQuick said. The median is still well below a peak of $665,000 reached in 2007 but up from $290,000 in March 2009. “It’s not exactly a stampede, but people are starting to move off the housing market sidelines in numbers we haven’t seen in quite a while. And it’s not just first-time buyers and investors,” said DataQuick President John Walsh. The lowest-priced homes, particularly foreclosed proper- ties, have long been driving sales in California, but the latest fig- ures show that all pricing categories are drawing more interest from buyers. DataQuick reported Wednesday that the median sales price in Southern California reached $295,000 in May, up 5.4 percent from $280,000 the same period last year. It marked the second straight month that the prices increased from a year earlier in the six-county region, following 13 straight year-on-year declines. It was also the highest since September 2010. Alex Feliciano, 46, was sav- ing for a house with his wife since 2005 and living in a rented apartment. They noticed prices climb in the San Francisco Bay area during April. “When I saw that, it kind of scared me. I had a sense of urgency,” said Feliciano, who delivers juice to supermarkets and whose wife works as a hospi- tal lab technician. They bought a three-bedroom home in Hayward for $315,000 last month. Home sales and prices jump in May BY JULIET WILLIAMS Associated Press SACRAMENTO — Democrats in the state Legislature held committee hearings on the California budget a day before the consti- tutional deadline to approve it, despite ongoing disagreements with Gov. Jerry Brown over their plan to make smaller welfare cuts to help balance a $15.7 bil- lion deficit. Republican lawmakers, whose votes are not needed to approve the budget, boycotted a Senate Budget Committee hearing, complaining that nego- tiations were being held in secret and they had not been given any time to review the budget bills, most of which were published online Thursday morning. “We have made repeated requests for an honest and open budgetary process and for the budget measures to be in print for 48 hours, to allow public review,” Sen. Bill Emmerson, R- Redlands, said in a statement. “We can’t in good conscience vote for bills we have not seen.” Democrats passed the main budget bills out of committee without GOP votes Thursday. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D- Sacramento, said the Legislature today planned to take up bills with which the governor agrees, but put off voting on the more controversial parts. Passing the main budget bill by today’s midnight deadline will meet the constitutional requirement and ensure that lawmakers do not go without pay, Steinberg said. The Senate leader empha- sized that Democrats are largely in agreement with the governor on most aspects of the plan. But lawmakers are at odds with the Democratic governor over about $1.2 billion in cuts to CalWORKS, the state’s wel- fare-to-work program, child care, in-home support and col- lege aid. More than three dozen people have been arrested at the state Capitol this week in protests over cuts to home health care and other programs for the needy. Brown is proposing to cut $880 million from CalWORKS by creating three different levels of support and imposing tougher eligibility requirements. His proposal would reward par- ents for working and give less aid to families where only the children qualify or if the parents are no longer eligible. Democratic lawmakers and advocates fear that would drive families into homelessness. They say a family of three in which only the child is eligible for benefits would be cut from a $516 a month benefit to $375 a month, an amount equal to 24 percent of the federal poverty level. Democrats only wanted to cut $428 million by extending existing cuts to counties to pro- vide work training and child care. “We are continuing to talk to see if we might find middle ground,” Steinberg said, “but we maintain our same strong position that the people in the middle, the people who are poor, the people who had been middle-class but now find themselves on the edge because they’ve lost a job, these are the people we are talking about when we talk about CalWORKS.” He added that they are not just a number on a page, “but it’s real lives.” Steinberg said Brown has not commented on the Democrats’ latest version of the budget. Both versions of the budget close the deficit by relying on about $8.5 billion in revenue California would only see if vot- ers approve Brown’s proposed temporary income and sales tax increases in November. The governor has submit- ted signatures for the initiative, which would ask Californians to add a quarter-cent to the 7.5 percent statewide sales tax for four years and increase income taxes on those who make more than $250,000 for seven years. Democrats moving on budget without governor’s approval The median price for new and existing houses and condos reached $270,000 last month, up 8.4 percent from $249,000 … AP photo Lori Brown, an in-home health care worker from Whittier, left, joins others in a protest against proposed state budget cuts to social services at the Capitol Wednesday in Sacramento. More than 40 home care workers, the disabled and supporters were arrested during a second day of protests against Gov. 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